Nominees for the 9th Annual Webby Awards have been announced. The Webby Awards is the leading international award program honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality. Five nominees were recognized in each of 63 categories. Winners will be announced in early May.
Web developers can benefit from reviewing the nominee websites and incorporating the "best of breed" concepts into future development projects. Simply click the category below to gain access to the five nominee Websites in that category.
Webby Award categories:
According to a recent report issued by The Kelsey Group, 70 percent of households in the United States now use the Internet to gather information when shopping locally for products and services. However, another report from June, 2004 by the same group revealed that nearly half of small to medium sized businesses did not yet have a Website and 30% of those businesses indicated that they intended to have one within 12 months.
Yahoo! has decided to capitalize on these trends by launching a new feature that provides free Web sites for small businesses. The service features five free pages that can be customized from a variety of templates, as well as, free listing in the Yahoo! local search engine.
If you are a veteran Web developer you merely need to be aware of this service. Small businesses with limited resources are probably not in your target market.
Junior developers, on the other hand, can position this free service as an entry level offering in a portfolio of services. You can offer to develop a limited "free" Website for friends and neighbors with small businesses and charge an hourly rate for your service. You can use the Yahoo! local search engine to identify prospects. As you develop a client base you can interest these small business owners in additional value-added services, such as database connectivity, as their needs expand.
You can learn more by accessing the Yahoo! local website beta site.
HTML skills continue to be in demand. This month's analysis of the Boston job market reveals that 153 jobs listed in the Boston Globe require HTML skills. This compares to 61 listings for Photoshop and 23 listings for Dreamweaver.
Database skills are in even greater demand with 390 listings for individuals who can demonstrate an understanding of SQL, the language used to access information from databases. Individuals with knowledge of proprientary database management systems such as Access (156), SQL Server (209) and Oracle (385) continue to be in high demand.
Connecting a Web page to a database requires HTML and SQL knowledge, as well as, understanding of a server-side scripting language. Four common scripting methods include the following:
- ASP (107)
- ASP.NET (67)
- PHP (21)
- Cold Fusion (11)
ASP continues to be the most in-demand scripting method followed by the next generation -- ASP.NET. Both techniques are proprietary Microsoft technologies. PHP is an open-source (free) alternative.
Monster.com consistently lists twice as many opportunities as BostonWork.com. The links on the right-hand side provide easy access to these job listings.
